1011-Twilight Redemption: Return of a Hero
by Chronic Guardian
Summary: Somebody's gotta look after the town while Sora's away... [Twelve Shots of Summer: Hexa-Code Kernel]


**1011 – Twilight Redemption: Return of a Hero**

By Chronic Guardian

**Written for Twelve Shots of Summer: Hexa-Code Kernel, Week 11: Return()**

"So… Sora's coming back, right?"

"Sora's got his own problems! The least we can do is hold down the fort while he handles things away."

"Okaaay, yes, I get what you're saying. But..." _Whump!_ Pence winced as the door bucked against their combined weight. "...You think maybe we're in over our heads?"

Hayner, true to scrappy self-made form, just gritted his teeth and braced his shoulder for another impact. "C'mon man, don't be such a wuss! If we call Sora back every single time the Heartless show up, how is he gonna get anything done?"  
Pence shot his friend a sideways look before the door again shook.

_Whump!_

"Dude, if we don't have a Keyblade, how are we gonna survive? It's not like whacking those things with a Struggle bat does anything."

"Well that's just because our hearts aren't big enough!" Hayner ground out.

"Y-yeah? How you figure that one?"  
"Because—" _Whump!_ "—there's gotta be _something_ we can do about it!"

…Not exactly what Pence would call a logical argument, but he could certainly see its appeal.

"Okay, so: big hearts," he grunted. "Is that where you sent Olette, then? To get more 'hearty' or whatever?"

Hayner blinked.

"...You know," Pence went on, "because she's the most, uh... emotionally balanced of the three of us? I… I honestly don't know where I'm going with this."

"Yeah, well…" _Whump!_ "Join the club."

"Wait, so you don't even know what Olette's supposed to be doing?!"

"Naw, man. I got an idea. Just not sure whether it will work or not."

"Hayner, what did you—? Wait." Pence held up a hand and frowned. "You feel that?"

Hayner readjusted himself for maximum support distribution. "Feel what?"

"No 'whump'," Pence said, experimentally easing himself off the door and taking a cautious step backwards. "You think it's… over?"

"Huh," Hayner grunted, then turned so his ear pressed up against the wood. "Well, whaddya know..."

"So that's a 'yes'?"  
"Yeah," the older boy nodded, opening the door to poke his head out into the street. "looks like we didn't need Sora after all."

"Weird..." Usually the Heartless were a little more driven when it came to assaulting the town. Unless a bigger target showed up, Pence couldn't think of any particularly reason for them to give up now.

Unless…

"Hey, you think maybe the Heartless are after someone even stronger? Like, maybe those Organization guys showed up, or—"  
"Shh!" Hayner, still watching the street, made a beckoning gesture. Pence sighed, but still followed to join his friend at the door. After all, it was either that or guess. Their blond ringleader had never been particularly gifted with complex explanations.

Coming around the wooden barrier, Pence realized that the Heartless hadn't left so much as moved. The sounds of a battle echoed up Market Street, leading off towards the sandlot on the south side of town.

"Okay, so somebody who _can_ fight them," Pence murmured, rolling his brown eyes backwards as he puzzled over the situation.. "And we're sure it's not Sor—?

"Shhh!" Hayner hissed again and held up a finger. "Wait for iiit..."

"Wait for what?"

Then, in the distance, he heard it. Broken and faded, but still distinctive enough.

"_Is'n_…_is..o-MANtic!"_

Pence felt his jaw dropping open. "No..." he said, barely above a whisper. "Are you kidding me?"

"One way to find out!" Hayner declared, snagging his Struggle bat from its resting place by the door—for all the good _that_ would do against the invading armies of darkness—before taking off down the street. "C'mon, they might need help!"

"H-hey! Wait!" Reluctantly chasing after his friend, Pence tried to come up with a good enough excuse to subdue the exuberant blond's hero complex. "W-what about Olette?!"

"She'll be there!" Hayner called over his shoulder. "She was supposed to bring him back from that dumb hero training he was doing in the mountains!"

"You mean you sent her to get _Seifer_?" Pence balked. "That was your big plan?"

"Hey, it might be working! You don't know!"

Convinced that Hayner wouldn't be changing his mind on just how good of an idea any of this was, Pence swallowed his complaints and focused on breathing. On the completely probable chance that Seifer was only creating a momentary diversion for the Heartless, he wanted to have a little energy left in reserve for the getaway.

On a more optimistic note, the sounds of struggle were still going on as they approached the sandlot, so _somebody_ was still alive and kicking. Raising his bat in the air and shouting a battle cry, Hayner shot around the corner to join them.

Pence, meanwhile, skidded to a halt before he ran out of cover and took a moment to gather himself. Was it really Seifer around the corner? Sure, it was difficult to imagine anyone else employing his antiquated use of "romantic", but it was equally difficult to imagine a mountain training routine that magically allowed one to fight Heartless. Maybe the digital Seifer from the Old Mansion had broken out into the real world? At this point, it would make about as much sense as anything else.

If that _were_ the case, though, Pence had to wonder if his own digital copy was similarly equipped and willing to combat darkness. Not that it would be a very faithful copy at that point, but if Seifer's version got an upgrade then why not?

Well, whatever it was, he wouldn't get any answers just standing there. Gulping down his doubts, Pence straightened up and leaned around the corner to assess the situation.

"Yo, it's that other guy, y'know?" Raijin, Seifer's right hand man, practically bumped noses with him before grinning like an idiot. "Hey, no need to worry now! Seifer's got it all under control, y'know?"

"Uh..."

Emerging from behind Raijin's formidable frame, Seifer's stoic hype-girl added her own terse two-cents. "Total domination."

"Wait, but… How?" Pence frowned, trying to get a good look beyond them to make sure they weren't bluffing. Sure, there weren't any Heartless left, but if Seifer was passed out around the next corner he sooo was not letting them get away with it.

"Because somebody's gotta protect this town!"

And then, there it was. Complete confirmation as the self-appointed head of the town disciplinary committee strode into view with something that definitely wasn't a Struggle bat resting on his shoulder. Seifer Almasy smirked and planted his free hand on his hip. "Come to welcome back the hero?"

"Oh, get over yourself!" Hayner growled, coming up behind their old rival holding his nose in the air. On closer inspection, Pence could see a little red leaking down his friend's nostrils "You may be a big shot now, but don't forget _I'm_ the one who cleaned up last Struggle!"

"Well then I hope you're _still_ interested in cleaning up," Seifer sighed as he lowered his new weapon. From what Pence could see, it looked like a freak superglue accident between a handgun and a broadsword. "Seeing all this trash lining the streets don't sit right with me."

Beside Pence, Fuujin nodded. "Unsanitary."

"Yeah, totally not cool, y'know?"

"Okay, so Seifer saves the town and we get clean up duty," Pence muttered, rolling up his sleeves. In all honesty, it was a better arrangement than letting the Heartless run wild, but it was hard not to feel like this was more payback for their group feuds. "C'mon, Hayner. Let's go find Olette and—"

"Hmph, like I'd leave it all to you."

Blinking down his surprise that Seifer, Twilight Town's resident egomaniac, was volunteering for trash duty, Pence shared a look with his friend before turning back again. "...'Scuse me?"

"I told you, somebody's gotta protect this town," Seifer said, inclining his chin towards Pence. "You think I'm stopping at Heartless?"

"I mean…" Pence rolled his index fingers over eachother and grimaced. "Usually you're more interested in the flashy parts..."

"Yeah? Well that was the old me. I'm a _hero_ now."

Hayner cocked his head to one side. "So you're sayin' you're gonna help us. To pick up trash. Instead of going and basking in whatever groupie pool you can drum up for your triumphant return."

"What, did you need Fuu and Rai to say it too?

"Confirmed," Fuujin threw in without missing a beat.

"Yeah, Seifer's totally serious about this, y'know?"

"Okay, fine, I give up, you win," Hayner waved his free hand around like he was swatting flies. "What's the big joke? Are you gonna ditch once we start? Is this gonna be another 'photo op' for your little collection? What's your angle, man?"

"Huh!" Seifer just smiled and pushed a thumb across his face. "I already told you: to fulfill my romantic dream and become a hero! Just like the guy I found to train me in the mountains."

Hayner was less than convinced. "Oh, now I know you're pulling my leg! You? Find someone you respect enough to train you? Who was it, your reflection in a waterfall?"

"He'll be here in a minute," Seifer replied calmly. "You'll see. He just had to hang behind to watch after your friend."

Pence gasped. "Wait, Olette? So then—"

"Hey! Sorry I'm late," a new, unfamiliar voice rang out from the sandlot's west entrance. "You finished up here?"

Turning around, Pence took in the sight of a six-foot-something man striding towards them; slicked back ebony spikes coming off his head, and a cross-shaped scar just to the right of his disarming smile.

He was like a vision out of a comic book.

"So, Seifer," the man went on, "these friends of yours?"

Hayner grunted, but it wasn't as forcefully dismissive as usual. Apparently, the sight of the newly arrived hero was a little much for him, too.

"Okay, so not quite," mystery man chuckled. "Gonna forge some D-Links with 'em? Friend or not, you might learn something."

"Working on it, master," Seifer said in with perhaps the closest thing to patience Pence had ever heard out of him. "So, how 'bout it, Hayner? Wanna form a bond and clean up this town?"

"Only if you spill on how the heck you can fight Heartless now."

"Like Zack said: D-Links."

"Zack?"

"Ah, right!" Mystery man pounded the point into his palm before offering a hand forward. "Name's Zack! Nice to meetcha."

"Uh..." Hayner eyed the hand like it might have a buzzer tucked in the palm. "And you're gonna help us?"

Zack arched an eyebrow. "Do I have a reason not to?"

"I mean, assuming you want to overlook our—ahem—_history_ with your apprentice, then no, not really."

"Ehhh… You're not working with the Heartless. Seems good enough for me!"

"Besides," Seifer added on. "Zack knows how to travel to other worlds."

Hayner rolled his eyes. "Your point being?"

"Well, I obviously can't leave this place alone—"

"Hey!"

"—unless there's somebody tough enough to take care of it while I'm gone."

"Which, if you two form a D-Link, shouldn't be a problem," Zack finished, clapping his hands together. "So, whatcha say, bud? We all help eachother power up and save the universe!"

Hayner pressed his mouth into a thin line and looked between the two of them. Given what Pence knew about his friend, this was probably a hard toss up between fulfilling personal fantasy versus principled resistance against Seifer.

"You know..." Pence began hesitantly, poking into the conversation. He raised an eyebrow at Hayner, but the other boy didn't stop him so he went on. "I don't think that sounds too bad."

"Ha! See? Seifer's totally got the right idea, y'know?"  
"—_But_ that doesn't mean we're giving you a pass," Pence continued before Fuujin could offer any commentary. "First I gotta know how you got Seifer to listen to you. Because, no offense, Seifer, but you've always been more of the free spirit type. Why the sudden change now?"

Zack stared back a moment, then smiled and shrugged. "No clue."

Hayner's eyes bulged. "Seriously?!"

"No, really," the man's hands came up as he tried to ease down the tensions. "Seifer hasn't changed much since I met him. I mean, he's a little better at what he does now, but I didn't do a lot of that. If anything, I just returned him to the dream he was already following, the same one I've been chasing for a while now."

"Huh..." Pence nodded as the earlier words came back to him. "'To become a hero'..."

"I know, I know," Zack chuckled and waved away the air between them. "It sounds kinda cheesy, but it's the truth. Someone with a strong heart showed me what it looks like. Guess the least I could do was pass it on."

Pence shifted a look to the man's apprentice and raised his eyebrows. "Seifer?"

"Yeah, that's how it happened," the young man confirmed, brushing his free hand over the bridge of his nose, tracing a scar he got from his first Struggle. "And now we stand a chance against the creeps tryin' ta wreck our town. So, what do ya say?"

"Hmm… I say—"

"_I_ say no way am I lettin' you leave all us behind in the dust!" Hayner cut in, taking a step forward and glaring at Seifer. "So let's get this over with so I can fight on your level again!"

For his part, Seifer gave a measuring look and an even expression. "As rivals?"

"No, man," Hayner growled. "As… h-"

Zack blinked, then looked to Pence as the other boy continued to choke on his words. "'As heroes'," the heavyset boy explained. "Guess that makes one more for your fan club, then."

The man's head tilted to a curious angle. "Not two?"

"Huh..." Pence considered it a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, why not."

**-The End-**

Author's Notes:

So one of my many gripes with KHIII was the total lack of Final Fantasy characters. And while I'm not saying the game should have abandoned Disney worlds altogether to make room for AU Final Fantasy shenanigans, I'm not _not_ saying that either.

...But seriously, this was your shot to bring Zack back into the picture, Nomura. This was your shot and you blew it.

To be fair, I probably blew it too since this was more of an "interesting idea with world mechanics/relationships" than an actual story, so I had no idea how to end it. If nothing else, I at least hope it made you smile.

But, yeah, that's about it. We're almost done with TSoS '19. Make sure to go and check out some of the other stories coming out of the community. Everyone is hanging in a lot better than usual this year, and I am super proud of their continued contributions. As for me, I need to get to reviewing and throwing together my last shot of the Summer, a Gunslinger Girl piece by the name of "Contract Closure". Hopefully this current piece was light enough to offset all the angst that is bound to happen!

See you there?

-CG

[17-AUG-19]


End file.
